On repeat
by llLittle Sll
Summary: I thought this was finally it. Thought the journey was done... What a naive thought... One-shot


I thought this was finally it. Thought the journey was done.

What a naive thought.

Suddenly, I was in Joey's house. I hadn't been there in years. Not since I gave him that drawing for his success.

In the beginning, I had been a bit pissed about him stealing my idea after he had rejected it. I left because of it, which in hindsight probably wasn't the best idea, but when someone do you like that, you don't think straight. And I realized my mistake pretty quickly. So, when he offered to take me back, not as a co-owner, but as a concept maker and animator, I quickly said yes.

And as in every classical fairytale, or maybe in this scenario, horror movie, I can surely say, that everything was perfect in the beginning. But then Joey started to go way over his head.

As Bendy started to become more popular, Joey started to ask for more characters. The first one after Bendy was easy. I remember that when you have a male character, he will need a partner. So, I created a gale for my little fella.

I called her Alice Angel. She was what I saw in women. Someone who was beautiful like an angel. But underneath she had a streak only a devil could have. But in a good way, if you know where I am getting at.

Joey loved her. So, a small cartoon was made, to introduce her. While she didn't become as big as Bendy in the beginning, she was popular enough that she stayed for more episodes. And Joey asked for more characters.

Bendy needed a comrade or someone he could pick on. So, I looked at Bendy for days, before a thought hit me.

'He kind of looks like a cat.'

So, I made a dog character. Dogs were loyal but would try and defend themselves. I also found them kind of stupid, but I am also a cat person, so I might be biased. And there is, of course, the whole stereotype that cat and dogs hate each other.

He got the name Boris, after Joey's own dog. And Joey loved him.

The next and finale characters I developed, was the Butcher Gang. They would be bullies who were after Bendy. They would make sure that Bendy wouldn't get too cocky.

I thought these characters would be enough for a while. We had our main character, Bendy. We had the love interest of Bendy, Alice Angel. We had the dumb friend who was picked on, Boris the Dog. And we had the villains that Bendy would have to face, the Butcher Gang. The business side of me knew that if we stayed with this for now and waited before doing more, we would be in a position where we could later expand.

But Joey wanted more, and he refused to wait.

I told him to wait. When we had first started this together, before I sold my share to him, I had been the one looking over the money, while trying to develop together with Joey. While Joey wasn't the best at drawing, he was great at telling captivating stories. But he had no sense when it came to money. And he was and still is very prideful.

So, when I came and told him he needed to wait, before going through with whatever plan he had, he took offence. Told me to my face, that since I didn't own a part of the company anymore, that I had no say in what was done, and shouldn't get involved with his business.

I gave up trying to reason with him and hoped that with time he would see reason.

If I had known was his next step had been for Bendy, I would have tried harder.

Out of the blue one day, Joey came into the office with this stranger. He told us that his name was Bertrum Piedmont and would be working here for some time, while they talked about plans for the studio. But what caught my interest, was when he said that Mr Piedmont was a Purveyor. That day, when I came home from work, I looked him up. And to my horror, I saw that he was renowned for his wonderful and expensive designs when it came to amusement parks.

A thing I will always remember about Joey, was his fascination when it came to amusement parks. Maybe it was because of his disability, which had given him a permanent limp, and therefore made it painful for him to sit in a lot of rides. But he had told me, from almost the first day we got to know each other, how it was his dream to own an amusement park. And now, he was going to realize that dream.

The next morning, I tried to stop him again. Told him that if he could just wait a year, where he only made more cartoons and maybe some merchandized, then he could do this without taking too big a risk.

He used my own words against him. I had always told him that sometimes, when it came to making a breakthrough in business, that you needed to take chances. And that is what he told me that day.

As the planning and building of the amusement park went on, problems started hitting us. Joey had had a special kind of machine build, to make our own brand of ink, for the sketches. It was to make it easier later when they would be refined for the screen. But the machine needed a lot of maintains, which cost a lot of money. It paid off in the beginning, but with a majority of the money going to the amusement park, it was getting harder to keep it properly maintained. I remember how Thomas kept complaining about when he came to fix it and how Wally would later complain about having to clean up all the spilt ink up afterwards.

Another problem was the voice actors. Bendy had always been voiced by me. Joey had wanted to do it first, but his gruff voice just didn't match. I could make mine pitch high enough that the voice didn't sound out of place. So, he kept me as a voice actor. That, and I offered to do it for free. But the voice actor of Alice wasn't happy.

Susie, the voice of Alice, was sure she deserved to be paid more. Deserved more for fewer hours. Joey refused. He fired her and quickly found a new voice. The actor's name was Allison. This was the last decision when it came to the business, he ever let me in on. He wanted to hear my opinion of her voice, as the new voice of Alice. He also made it clear, that the only reason I would have a say in this, was because of me being the creator of her. I told him the truth.

"I wish we could have had her from the start. This is the voice I heard in my head when I made Alice Angel."

Allison became the new and final voice of Alice Angel. Her becoming the new voice, actually made Alice more popular. Where Susie's voice had been a bit too high on some notes, making us all cringe sometimes. Allison's was smooth and when she sang, it was like she was the personification of Alice come to life. A voice singing a song so innocent, but that gave the underlying tone of something devilish, seductive. Perfect for the devil angel.

Cuts started being made. The Butcher Gang started to show up in fewer episodes, and new mute characters started to appear more. It was a bit expensive to have the Butcher Gang in episodes, as that would mean at least four voice actors for one episode, even if only three of those were being paid.

So, more episodes of only Bendy, Alice and Boris were made. Out of these three, only two had voice actors as it had been decided when Boris was made, that as he was a dog, he wouldn't be able to talk. And as I wasn't being paid for being the voice actor of Bendy, only Allison needed to be paid for being Alice. That saved a lot of money.

But the ink machine kept clogging with the special ink. And because of the cut downs, Thomas couldn't come every time there was a tiny problem with it to fix it immediately. Where he once was there every day, so he could be ready, he started being there one day a week, with the rest of the days being ready on the phone if anything happened. And in the end, he was to only come to work when he was phoned and asked to come. At the end of each month, he was also to see to the ink machine, to make sure it would be able to endure the coming month.

Because of Thomas not being there on demand and observing the damn machine, it could take weeks before we noticed anything was wrong with it. It became so bad one day, that one of the bottom floors of the studio became flooded with ink when a pipe exploded. It took days fixing that, and some of the workers had been stuck in the ink for those days without food. Most of them quit the following day.

And I am kind of ashamed to admit that I left with them.

I could see where this was going. I knew how this would end, and I didn't want to be stuck in the backlash.

Some of the people who left with me were Wally and Thomas. Not long after us, Alice left as well.

Sammy, the songwriter and a big supporter of what Joey was doing, stayed to the bitter end. He saw Joey as a role model, saw him as the sole creator of this magnificent place.

Yeah, sole creator. When I left, it had only been me, Joey and a handful of employees. Those had left slowly over the years, so no one other than Joey and I, knew that I was the true creator of Bendy, and was a part of why this had been a success. And with the downfall happening, I was happy with that.

I got a stable job, found a girl that I loved and married. Eventually, we got a sweet little daughter, named Elizabeth or Lizzie for short.

The drawing I gave him had been just after creating all the characters. When I think back to that drawing, I wish I had waited before giving it to him. He doesn't deserve it. Not after what he has done to us all.

I hadn't thought of Joey for years. Hadn't seen him, hadn't talked to him. Hadn't had a need for it.

But then my wife died.

She had gotten sick, and even with a stable job, the money to give her a life-altering surgery wasn't something we had.

I thought back to Joey and was sure that even with the studio being done, he would still have come out with some money. So, I reached out to him and hoped that I could maybe use some leeway as an old friend and borrow some money.

Apparently, I had given him too much credit. He was deep in debt, with bills still coming up. When he asked what they were for, and told him about my wife's condition. We talked back and forth about options when I remembered my gift to him.

"Hey Joey, do you still have the signed drawing I gave you?" He answered that he still had. I was overjoyed.

"That is worth a lot!" I told him. "Even with the studio having gone under, I know it is still a popular topic. Would it be a possibility to see how much you could get from a collector if you sold it?"

"I already tried that," Joey told with a tired voice. "It would be enough for me to get out of debt. But…"

"But?"

"It is the only thing left I have of that studio," he said. "To give that away, would be like giving away all of my hopes and dream. All of what I stood for. I am sorry, old pal. But that gift, I cannot sell."

My wife never got the surgery. She died a year later.

Joey came to the funeral with his condolences. I started seeing him more after that. I wasn't sure what compelled me. Maybe the fact that we had both lost something we held dear. Maybe pity that while he had nothing after his loss, I still had my daughter.

Lizzie took a shine to Joey. Started calling him uncle Joey. What she loved especially, was his stories. He mostly told stories of the old studio. Sometimes, he would make up stories about Bendy and his friends. He would also put in new characters.

Most of the stories were happy ones. But once in a while, I would overhear him telling her stories about the ink machine, and how it would turn people into ink versions of themselves. How they would become corrupted and chase people around. I had to tell him to stop doing that, as it gave her nightmares. I don't know if he ever listened.

Lizzie seemed to ignite something in him. Because suddenly, he started to reach out to people who had worked at the studio. He showed me a letter from Wally, who now lived a peaceful life with his wife and grandchildren. About how Allison and Thomas had married and that Allison was still a successful voice actress, and had plans of starting to pursue real acting. She even sends some recipes for soups and pies. Her bacon soup recipe was amazing!

But even with all of this happiness interring his life, he couldn't escape his past mistake. Bills from the studio were still coming in, and they became harder and harder to pay.

We would fight over them. He would tell me that I had some responsibility and should be paying them too. I would always tell him that I sold my share of the company to him a long time ago, and therefore it wasn't my responsibility anymore.

After a rather heated argument, in which Joey called me a bad caretaker of Lizzie, I stopped seeing him for a while. Lizzie wasn't happy about it since she wanted to see her uncle Joey. But I didn't trust him around her anymore.

So, when I finally saw him again, it was without her. I could see he didn't like it, but he could do nothing about it.

Or so I thought.

When my wife died and I rekindled it with Joey, I made him the guardian of Lizzie, should anything happen to me. And he knew that, as I had asked him if that was okay.

…I regret making that decision now…

I should have suspected something when I came to him that night.

He had invited me and Lizzie for dinner that night. Told that he had gotten a way to pay the bills. He kept talking about this new opportunity to re-awaken the studio, and that this time it would be a success. I wisely kept my mouth shut about how the kind of stories he was good at wasn't in anymore since I could see how happy he finally was.

It became late and Joey offered to let us stay in the guest room. I thought nothing of it and accepted. I tucked Lizzie into bed and went back to chat more with Joey over some drinks.

He must have spiked my drink because, after ten minutes, I couldn't speak let alone move.

He told me about how it was my fault that everything failed. That if I hadn't bailed out in the beginning, sold my share to him, that I could have kept him on a leash. He told me how I had everything. A family. And even with my wife now gone, I still had my beautiful daughter.

He told me something. He told me to visit the old workshop and that he had something to show me. After that, I remember nothing.

When I came to, I was in the studio. It was different. And I quickly learned why.

I went through hell and finally ended in Joey's house. Only for him to go on the same speech again and telling me to visit the old workshop, since he had something to show me. I would open a door, and be back where I started.

In the beginning, I remembered nothing. But sometimes I would remember. I would set tally marks every time I remembered, for how many times I had gone through the loop. Must be over a hundred now.

I think I might know why he did this. With me gone, he can have Lizzie now and all the money I left for him to take care of her. It should be enough so that in a few years, all the bills will be paid. He will be able to have the daughter he always desired, while I rot in this hell hole, he created for us.

Yes, us. I am not the only one down here.

Allison, Thomas, Susie and Sammy are down here too. But only me, Sammy and to some degree, Susie seems to remember. Allison and Thomas aren't aware. Thomas only knows his name and only the nickname of Tom that we gave him. Allison knows nothing.

I don't know why only we are here, but maybe it is because we were the only ones, he could get a hold off.

I have also noticed that I am changing.

It is getting harder for me, to pull myself out of the ink. Allison is starting to call me weird instead of different. In some cases, she gets shocked when she sees me like she is ready to attack me.

I think I am turning into some form of Bendy.

And I don't know what will happen if that happens.

Lizzie. If I never pull through, never find a way out of here, I hope you live a happy life with uncle Joey. And that you never find out what kind of man he really is.

Because if you knew, you would never forgive him, or yourself.

After all, I only accepted that dinner invitation because of you.

 **This is one of six one-shots which were written at Nanowrimo before I didn't have time to write more. I hope you enjoyed it.**

 **~Little S**


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